Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Michel de Montaigne Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Feb 28, 1533
  • Died: Sep 13, 1592

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was one of the most influential philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual exercises with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers all over the world, including René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan Zweig, Eric Hoffer, Isaac Asimov, and possibly on the later works of William Shakespeare.

In his own lifetime, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman than as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, 'I am myself the matter of my book', was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent.

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge. knowledge

Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations. death

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself. work

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage. courage

Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face. age

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I. love

The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death. death

My trade and art is to live. art

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. courage

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband. good & marriage

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do. business & nature

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. failure

I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older. truth

We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom. knowledge & wisdom

There is no passion so contagious as that of fear. fear

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others. intelligence

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication. communication

If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love. friendship, good, love & marriage

Marriage is like a cage one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out. marriage

Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance. marriage

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. education

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom. family

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity. best

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me. death

The thing I fear most is fear. fear

There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state. family & government

How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables. faith

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence. God

For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions. sports

Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep. dreams

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self. future

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness. wisdom